C H AR"
SAL/SH KOOTENAI AND PEND'd ORIELLES TRIBES
CHARLO
KOOSTAHTAH
KOOSTA
SMIMII (Salish: News)
Volume 3 - Number 4 FULL MOON OF THE CAMAS BLOO vIING (June 15 49 73) Price 15 cents
90 Percent Distribution PI an Goes to Polls June 30
On June 30 reservation Indian voters will go to the polls to decide whether the tribe should make a policy of distributing 9 0 percent of reservation revenues...a move which on one hand has been calle d "liquidation by slow strangulation" and on the other "the best thing that has happened since the Indian Reorganization Act."
The 10-9 0 proposal (so called because it would withhold ten percent of annual reservation revenues for administration while distributing the rest to the enrollment) has generated a lot of heat since it was proposed in February by Councilman Fred Whitworth, Arlee. Withworth and Bud Moran Arlee, went through the 1973 Tribal budget and computed it with administrative services they felt the tribe really needed —turning some essential services over to other governmental agencies ... and came up with an administrative budget of $ 3 51,415.6 4 or just under one tenth of the projected 1974 revenue income of $ 3,9 6 2,0 6 9.
The budget and distribution plan were presented
to the Council along with a slate of 13 constitutional amendments designed to increase the efficiency of tribal government and administration. The amendment package was presented by Councilman Tom "Bearhead" Swaney and Lillis Waylett, Ronan, and the two plans ... Whitworth's budget and Swaney's admenments... were to be forged into an integrated government improvement program. On Feb. 20, however, the amendments were tossed out a and the Council voted to trv to operate the tribe on ten percent of the revenues and distribute between 50 and 90 percent to the enrollemnt. The compromise was offered by Councilman Pat Lefthand
of Elmo, who said he thought the tribe should try to operate on less money but felt that binding the tribe to a 9 0 percent distribution would be too severe a handicap.
With the Council turning down the 9 0 percent distribution plan, the proposal was taken to the people in the form of a petition calling for a referendum. The Tribal Constitution and Ordinance 5 3 - A provide reservation -resident voters the power to overrule the Tribal Council Council resolution votes can be overrulled by the tribal voters with a petition containing one-third of eligible voters signatures calling for a referendum election. A Council action can be overturned with a majority vote of at least 3 0 percent of the eligible voters balloting.
On March 15, a petition with 5 59 signatures, calling for an election on the 9 0 percent distribution plan was filed with Tribal Secretary Fred Houle, Jr. Houle presented the petition to the Council on April 5, noting that 511 of the signatures were valid. On April 28 the Council accepted the petition, binding them to call an election within 9 0 days. The June 3 0 date for balloting on the 9 0 percent distribution proposal was set during the Council meeting May 19.
The elections committee had not yet met as Char-Koos-ta went to press. The committee must establish rules and appoint an election board for each district. Unofficially, election procedures will be as follows:
—-Balloting will be at regular
precincts except in Ronan where the committee will have to assign a voting place. —-Polling hours will be from either 10 :00 a.m. to 8 :00 p.m. or from noon to 8 :00 p.m. —-Resident members entitiled to vote in Tribal Council elections will be eligible. There are currently 1,484 members who meet the one-year residency age requirement (21 years). The Issue
The central issue in the 10-90 controversy is whether or not the tribe wants to return to the security of a complete trust relationship with the Bureau of Indian Affairs or pay the going rate for control over their reservation resources and cultural destiny. Councilman Whitworth and the proponents of 9 0 percent distribution contend that in the 37 (More on page 6)
State Supreme Court Reviewing Pierre Case
Helena (May 31): The Montana Supreme Court is reviewing its own decision in the civil debt case between Flathead Indian Richard Isaac Pierre and the Security State Bank of Poison.
The State's high court opened hearings last Thursday into their February 7 decision which ruled that state courts do not have jurisdiction over . Indian debt claims on the Flathead reservation. Arguments from attorneys for the bank questioning the constitutionality of the laws which make Indian reservations separate legal entities opened the rehearing of the case. Missoula attorney Vic Valgenti, Representing Pierre, and Tribal Attorney Richard Beanen pointed out to the court that the con-
stitutionality of the laws was not an issue in the case since the U.S. Supreme Court had already upheld the separate jurisdiction question in the Kennerly case.
On February 7 , the Monana Supreme Court unanimously overruled a 19 7 2 decision by Poison District Court Judge E. Gardner Brownlee which granted the Security State Bank of Poison a civil debt judgement against Pierre. In overturning Judge Brownlee's decision, the high court noted that the eight point concurrent jurisdiction agreement between the tribe and the state did not specifically grant civil debt jurisdiction to state courts. The concurrent jurisdiction agree-
Pollman Files For Dismissal
Missoula (June 4): A motion to dismiss tribal-federal trespass charges against a Poison man have been filed in Missoula Federal District Court.
A Missoula attorney representing Harlan Pollman, Finley Point, made the motion last Monday to drop fishing trespass charges on the grounds that tribal ordinance 4 4-A— the tribal recreational permit law — violates the civil rights of non-Indian reservation residents. The motion, by attorney Sam Haddon, also claims that a referendum provision in the ordinance was never met, which therefor, invalidates the law. (continued on page 2)